USS Franklin
|Registry = NX-326 |owner = United Earth |operator = Starfleet |Status = Missing (prime reality) (2164) Active (alternate reality) |Datestatus = 2263 }} The USS Franklin (NX-326) was a 22nd century Federation starship operated by Starfleet. It was the first Earth ship capable of reaching warp factor 4. Its armaments, typical of the era, included pulsed phase cannons and spatial torpedoes. Its defenses included polarized hull plating. ( ) History The Franklin was the test bed for the warp 4 engine that became standard in the United Earth Starfleet in subsequent years. Following the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the United Federation of Planets, the Franklin was placed under the command of Captain Balthazar Edison - a former MACO veteran of the Xindi and Romulan wars. The ship vanished in 2164 while on a mission in the Gagarin Radiation Belt, an incident now taught to future Starfleet officers at Starfleet Academy. Speculation abounded about the ship's disappearance with theories ranging from Romulan capture to a "giant green hand" being responsible for the loss of the Franklin. What truly happened was that after experiencing a wormhole displacement, the ship crash-landed on the planet Altamid. As no sign of rescue came, Edison came to believe the Federation deliberately abandoned them. Edison discovered relics left by Altamid's native species – including numerous ships, a drone workforce and life sustaining technology capable of stealing the "life force" from its victims. Edison and his crew abandoned the wreck of the Franklin and turned against the Federation. Alternate reality In the 2263 of the alternate reality, the Franklin was discovered, half-buried under the surface of Altamid, where it functioned as the residence of Jaylah, who placed it under a holographic cloak to evade detection by Edison, then known as Krall. The Franklin had functioning power reserves, serviceable engines, and intact data logs despite a century of neglect. Before her encounter with the crew of the late starship , Jaylah had begun repairs on the Franklin, learning English from its onboard computer and becoming familiar with the "classical" music of 20th century Earth stored in the ship's databanks. Marooned on Altamid, Captain , Lieutenant Commander , and Ensign further repaired the Franklin, restoring its transporter capabilities, and enhancing it to transport complex lifeforms rather than simply cargo, they rescued the Enterprise crew imprisoned by Krall. Learning of Krall's plan to use his Swarm ships and the super weapon known as the Arbonath to attack the Federation Starbase Yorktown, Kirk and company successfully piloted the Franklin out of Altamid's atmosphere by dropping the ship off a cliff in order to reach terminal velocity. Encountering Krall's forces at Yorktown, Kirk and company flew the Franklin into the swarm. Using the ship's antiquated technology, Kirk's crew disrupted the individual vessels' communications with radio signals and created a chain reaction that destroyed most of the swarm. Pursuing Krall and two remaining ships, the Enterprise crew piloted the Franklin into Yorktown's internal docking structure, using the ship itself to destroy the attacking vessels before crashing into Yorktown Central Plaza near Yorktown Headquarters. In the aftermath, Kirk and Commodore officially closed the missing-in-action report on the Franklin and its crew. ( ) Command crew *Commanding officer **Captain Balthazar Edison (2160s) **Captain (2263) (assumed command of the derelict vessel) Command crew under Kirk's command *First officer ** (2263) *Chief engineer ** (2263) *Chief medical officer ** (2263) *Helmsman ** (2263) *Navigator ** (2263) *Communications officer ** (2263) *Science officer **Spock (2263) Known personnel *Jaylah (2263) *Anderson Le (2160s) *Jessica Wolff (2160s) Appendices Background information The USS Franklin was named after director Justin Lin's father, Frank Lin. The Franklin s registry number 326 was in honor of Leonard Nimoy's birthday. The ship was designed by Sean Hargreaves, who described it as initially being "almost like a large shuttlecraft". Regarding its resemblance to Doug Drexler's NX-class , Hargreaves stated that the Franklin was designed independent of that ship, initially featuring nacelles in the down position before the script required them to be flipped above the saucer section for the takeoff sequence. Hargreaves also explained that the pennants on the Franklin s engines depicting the Starfleet insignia were originally only placeholders that were never changed. According to the designer, the Franklin was intended to resemble a freighter and was 450ft long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQDVrqmHS0&feature=youtu.be Launch date Regarding the vessel's origins, Dylan Highsmith said, "If you want the official explanation on the ''Franklin and its warp factor: it was a MACO ship (or a United Earth Starfleet ship that housed MACO personnel at times) that predates the NX-01. When the UFP Starfleet is formed, MACO was disbanded and the ship was reclassified as a Starfleet ship the USS identifier. The ship is then 'lost' in the early 2160s. It was important to everyone that the ship, like Edison, predate the Federation; that thematically, the ship mirrored an earlier time in history and served as a bridge in design between then and the NX-01. Doug and Simon may have worked up something an official launch date, but if they did it never made it to script or screen. Either way it predates the NX-01, and was reclassified after the UFP is formed." http://trekcore.com/blog/2016/07/heres-where-the-franklin-fits-in-the-star-trek-timeline/ The possible launch date of the ''Franklin as the first warp four vessel of Starfleet can be narrowed down based on information from , which established that warp three was first achieved by the NX Delta in 2144, and that the construction of Enterprise, Starfleet's first warp five ship, began in 2149. Therefore, the launch of the Franklin should have happened in those intermittent five years between 2144 and 2149, thereby making it between fifteen and twenty years old at the time of its disappearance in 2164. External link * de:USS Franklin Category:Alternate reality Category:Federation starships